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At age 10, John A Hawken’s journey in art began. Buying a small set of watercolours was very expensive then, and the brush that came with the set didn’t last very long, so John began shaping his own brushes from feathers shed from the mollyhawk, just like an old fashioned quill.

Always having found realism boring, after many exercises with landscapes, still life, sailing ships and aeroplanes, John’s main inspiration is a love of colour and shapes. Using his imagination and events from the outside world, painting gives him the necessary outlet to express his visions. He has found great inspiration also with the likes of Pablo Picasso, L.S. Lowry and Frances Hodgkins enjoying the cubism form, the life and meaning and the impact – respectively. During his working life, John would often experiment with painting, using printing inks and the back of printing plates. As you can imagine, this had to be a very fast process as printing ink dries very quickly. He had loads of fun with this. When it comes to mistakes and advice for new artists, John says: “Just accept it happens. Don’t panic – have confidence you can do it. Don’t sweat the small things, I have found 98% of the time it always works out.” Multi-talented, John also plays rhythm guitar and writes music and tells us he is still receiving royalties for the song ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming’.
Watch John's interview on 'The Beat Goes On' here.

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Born in England, Ingrid Boot studied at Westminster University, London and went on to complete a degree in Illustration at De Montfort University, Leicester. This provided a wider insight into different art disciplines and gave her first taste of life drawing; “it was brilliant and encouraged me to find my own style”.

Ingrid is is inspired by photographers rather than other painters. “I remember many years ago visiting an advertising agency in London and seeing a stunning old black and white print of a beautiful woman standing between two elephants and the image absolutely blew me away. When I was researching for a show a few years ago I recalled this photo by Richard Avedon (AMAZING fashion photographer) of ‘Dovima with Elephants’ which was taken for Harper’s Bazaar in 1955 featuring a Dior dress designed by Yves St Laurent. I love how the model’s pose created a flow and movement with the elephants and that a stunning woman, in a beautiful gown, was standing amongst these giants. It’s unnatural and yet sublime. “I love to research my subject matter as this can lead to new inspirations.” Ingrid has a large selection of Vogue fashion books – from 20th century fashion to a history of Vogue covers, which she frequently pours over to get inspired. “All sorts of things can get me very excited and inspired from pages in a magazine, billboards, my Instagram feed or just things I see in everyday life.”
Visit Ingrid's website: Ingrid Boot Artist.

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As an artist I love the fact that I am never bored. I also love having the ability to be able to really look and feel for any subject that I am studying. I love that I can imbue the essence of any subject that I might be studying into my art.

I love sharing my artwork with other people and especially get a kick out of giving my artwork away. There is so much more meaning carried in a handmade gift that is specifically tailored to the receiver, I think, than something you might sell to a stranger. However, art sales are important to me too – they give me money to buy more art supplies. And when it comes to watercolour supplies, I only go for the best, so that can be very expensive indeed!
In joining Watercolour New Zealand, I want to learn from some of the excellent artists that make up that group. Lately, I have just made the move into painting rather large watercolours. It’s a slightly scary endeavour, as I have never done such large scale before, so I thought I would start with baby steps and begin with a 594 x 420 mm (A2 paper size). My ultimate aim is to get up to 1189 x 841 mm – or A0. I’m not sure where I will be able to source that size of paper but I’m sure a supplier will materialise when the time comes.
See more about Debrina here: Debrina Altered

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Russia – a stellar country of vast contrasts; its topography is as diverse as the artistes that have inhabited it. From Mikhail Vruble to Alexej Von Jawlensky, Russia has produced some of the finest artists the modern world has seen; firmly establishing themselves as pioneers of artistic freedom. Tatyana Kulida is one such artist, whose move to New Zealand in 2015 ushered in a renewed interest in traditional techniques into the dominant Contemporary Art scene of Wellington. With the success of her recently established gallery Anthesis Atelier, Tatyana is truly blossoming in her new home.
For the first 16 years of her life, Tatyana Kulida spent her youth discovering and refining her interests inand subsequent talent for ‘Classical Arts’ – wiling away her days in bliss practising piano and taking yearly trips to Moscow’s finest museums. This time was spent in admiration and awe of the art around her – the beauty and vibrancy of the colours, the emotion in the paintings that were captured perfectly and profoundly. These moments ignited within her an enduring love of artistic expression which would develop into a fierce determination to learn all she could later in life. A woman born with great perception and the soul of an adventurer, Tatyana departed the Motherland at the age of 17 to explore the ever-changing world around her. The first stop on her journey was the USA, where she became an IT consultant with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Information Systems and Arts Management. Due to her schooling, Tatyana worked with businesses and non-profit art organisations, leading her to the realization that true satisfaction could only come from creating beautiful artwork.

See more about Tatyana here.

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Finding his motivation at the age of 13, in the idea that an artist creates a new world with every painting they do, M Francis McCarthy started to apply himself very diligently to learning as much as he could about the creative process. Trained for graphics at a vocational high school, the early portion of Michael’s career as an artist was focused almost entirely on the human figure.
However, later, as a commercial illustrator for 13 years, he did very little work with the human figure, mainly concentrating on animals, dinosaurs and landscapes for various design projects. Being paid for what he loved doing was great and he made a good income, but he found it very challenging, over time, to maintain the inspiration that was the initial catalyst for becoming an artist in the first place. “I worked predominantly with digital media, which is fun, but I found the way to inspiration as an artist for me was best served by working with oil paints on an actual painting surface. I feel very fortunate to have maintained a reverence and desire to create artwork after so many years of having to perform as a commercial artist.” From quite a young age Michael had it in his mind that he would become a landscape painter: “This is interesting because I did very little landscape work prior to sitting down with paints and canvas in 2008. However, I have always found a lot of inspiration in landscape paintings and I like how they can be a neutral space for our consciousness to occupy.” Inspiration from studying the past Masters, especially in regards to tonalist landscape painting, sees Michael constantly creating studies, trying to improve his own abilities and vision. “I have an ongoing series on my blog ‘landscapepainter.co.nz/new-blog’, featuring studies I do after the past Masters of Tonalism.

See landscapepainter.co.nz/new-blog.

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Mark Anstis is not sure he can call himself an artist. “When applied to me, I think I’d prefer to earn that title rather than claim it. But I have always loved drawing, ever since I can remember. Five to ten years ago, I started to see a lot more examples of amazing artwork appearing online, and realised I actually knew nothing at all about drawing, and that I had better see about learning.”
“I found out about the Florence Academy of Art (Italy) searching for an art school online. There isn’t an institution in New Zealand – that I know of at least – that specialises in teaching realist art to the rigorous extent I wanted. So I made up my mind to find something overseas. I knew enough about art history to know that Florence had, for a long time, been the centre for the kind of art that I was interested in.” Absolutely amazed at the artists gallery on the website, he took a sabbatical from his day job in Wellington and travelled over to enroll in short, intensive study-condensed versions of their three-year curriculum. The school teaches in-depth traditional drawing and painting skills, working from life and focusing on the human figure. “At the end of my sabbatical I came back to my desk job in Wellington, sat down, and after about five minutes my mind was made up. I kept saving for the next 18 months before I stopped working full time and moved to the UK for a couple of years, via Florence again, to focus on learning to paint.” Since returning to the family farm in Opotiki, New Zealand, Mark has been concentrating on plein-air landscape painting, “The farm and surrounding area is stunning, and I hope to try and capture something of the native New Zealand bush and rural landscape. I really enjoy doing landscapes, but probably portraiture is my favourite genre, there is just something about painting people, so I try to keep this up as often as I can.”

Follow Mark here.

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Originally from Northampton, England, Claire says she always knew she’d be an artist. After a two-year Arts Foundation Diploma, begun when she was only 16, Claire studied Fashion and Textiles at John Moore’s University in Liverpool, gaining a BA Honours degree.
“It was also where I began to see how artists can make a living through art; that became my business model if you like.” Later, Claire travelled extensively, collecting textiles, objects, ideas and inspiration from many countries. “Travel has always inspired me” she says. “I love to wake up in a new place and absorb all the unfamiliar sounds and scents – as well as the different light and colours. Although my artistic influences are mainly European – I love the Pre-Raphaelites, Klimt, Schiele and the moody landscapes of Turner – I find myself gravitating to places like Bali and the Pacific Islands for fresh inspiration. I need to be near the sea.” Claire’s early work included embroidered collages of faded sepia photographs set in decayed environments. These were exhibited in galleries and museums around the UK, including a solo show at the Bankfield Museum in Halifax. During that time, her work was exhibited and sold in Craft Council UK galleries and shops.
See more about Claire here.

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Born in Russia, Nick Morte attended art school as a teenager in the early 90s. Those years were hard in Russia and the teachers mostly worked for free, due to delays with salaries and insane inflation. The teachers were so dedicated that they often spent extra hours with the pupils, ensuring they got as much information as they could digest. However, instead of studying for a degree in fine art, Nick opted instead for civil law and qualified with a Bachelor Degree. He went on to become a tattooist, and now resides in Christchurch, where he is continuing his love affair with oil painting.

“When I graduated from university, I already knew that I didn’t want to work as a lawyer but rather wanted to do something creative for a living. A few years before that, I’d tried tattooing a friend (just out of curiosity at first) and, by the time I finished my civil law studies, I was looking for a tattoo apprenticeship. This search led me to Moscow, where I stayed for a while and eventually became a well-established tattooist.” In 2008 Nick started to travel, taking his work as a tattoo artist with him. This journey lasted some years and took him to most of Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He finally decided to settle in Norway, staying there until 2016. But the Norwegian authorities deemed being a tattoo artist “not a real profession” – a decision that was baffling to Nick – and this meant he left Norway and the European Union. He travelled to New Zealand and returned to painting again: “Just like at high school – painting to escape reality, painting as self-medication, painting as a cure that heals the soul and clears the mind,” he says. After taking a year off tattooing, he discovered that he might be able to make a living from painting. “This was the moment of true, infinite gratitude – I’m not trying to please the public but as long as my art seems to resonate with people, I’m happy to share it with wide audiences.” Nick has found that working as an artist means everything to him.

See more about Nick here: Nick Morte.

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